Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Tuesday 8 June 1999

Scottish Executive

Beef on the Bone

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to revoke the Beef bones regulations, and lift the ban on Beef on the bone.

Susan Deacon: The Executive intends to revoke the Regulations, and to lift the controls on beef on the bone, as soon as medical advice and scientific evidence justifies such action.

  The medical and scientific case for removing the controls will be assessed again later this year. The Regulations are based on medical advice which is that there should be no reintroduction into the human food chain of that proportion of dorsal root ganglia, as well as bone marrow, eliminated through the Beef Bones Regulations for the time being. To do so would mean that tissue from the small number of animals incubating BSE at the time of their slaughter could be eaten inadvertently during a meal, in meat trimmed off the bone or hidden in stocks, gravy and other products with a beef bone base and ingested without the consumer realising it.

Education

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the figures for the cost of ending tuition fees for students resident in Scotland on which it will be basing its policy proposals.

Henry McLeish: Estimated private contribution to tuition fees from Scottish domiciled and EU students studying in Scotland, for 2001-02, the first year when the full cohort of students would be liable to make a contribution, is £42m. This assumes no change in the current arrangements for student support.

Freedom of Information

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will bring forward policy proposals on freedom of information in Scotland.

Mr Jim Wallace: I hope to be able to make a statement before the summer recess.